A Shade of Halloween

“Halloween’s day: The day you die!”

I stared at the note in front of me with a raised eyebrow and smiled. It was only the 24th of June and my roommate, Alex was already preparing for Halloween. I wondered when he snuck up beside me and dropped the note. He was usually a clumsy one, unable to stay quiet even if the survival of the planet depended on it. I could tell he’d gone out of his way for this ultra-secret Halloween mission and could visualize him snickering quietly to himself while slipping the note beside my pillow.

“Nice try, Alex but you forgot a few details.” I smiled to myself.

It was way too obvious that Alex dropped the note. Who else had access to my room in the middle of the night? I was sure the note wasn’t there at the time I went to sleep. If it were, I would have seen it. The fact that I didn’t see it before going to bed ruled out the possibility of anyone else sneaking into our dorm room to drop it. Besides, Alex was the only person I knew who had no life. When other people go out to have a great time or stay indoors to take a beauty nap of awesomeness – like me, only people with no life A.K.A. Alex, sneak up on them and place creepy Halloween notes beside their pillows.

“It’s not even October yet, for Pete’s sake!”

I decided to make things a little interesting, just to show him I was capable of creeping him out as well. The best way to do that was to give him a dose of his own medicine and that was exactly what I did.

I got off my bed and walked to the reading desk where I kept my box of pens. I picked a red one up, and scribbled “A single slash of the throat” on the piece of paper, right under Alex’s writing. Satisfied, I placed the paper back on Alex’s pillow and smiled.

“That should tell him I’m on to his silly prank.”

I took a nice warm shower, brushed my teeth and stood in front of my mirror for the best part of the day - Makeup. I loved fashion in general but makeup was my favorite bit. Over the top shades of blue, red and black always made my day pop. I applied a double layer of eyeliner for the dramatic eye effect I loved and was just applying my black waterproof mascara when I caught movement in the room behind me from the side of my eye. There was no reflection in the mirror but I was pretty sure I saw something or someone move.

I turned around sharply and surveyed the room. My eyes darted quickly from one corner to the next, taking in the entire space within the room.

It was empty.

I shook my head and sighed. There was no one in the room with me, so I brushed it off. I must have imagined what I thought I saw.

I finished my makeup and smiled at my reflection in the mirror. Looking good always did wonders for my confidence. Since I looked great today, I was sure I was going to have a great day. After one final glance in the mirror, I picked my backpack up from the side of my bed and hung it over my shoulder. I needed to head out because my first class was at eight and the last thing I wanted was to be late. I heard my History tutor had zero tolerance for late coming and I didn’t want to be the first one to try his patience.